I wonder why he doesnt want to leave VCU. You would think that he, like most coaches, would want to take the job that would give him the best chance to win a national championship. I would think that at illinois he would be able to get better players than he would at VCU. Maybe he really likes the underdog role and feels he does his best coaching when in that position

He's in a city he loves at an institution he loves coaching a team he loves. He knows full well that the grass isn't always greener. Look at the last 3 coaches to leave the CAA: Capel goes to OU, has a terrible record after Blake Griffin & gets run out of town to go back to being an assistant; Anthony Grant goes to Bama & his teams on about the same footing as we are (plus, now that Shaka's turned them down, Grant is one of Illinois' fall-back options); Jim Laranaga goes to Miami & has to spend the whole season trying to through mid-majors under the bus in the hopes of getting his team into the NCAA, but instead they lose in the 2nd round of the NIT.

So there's 3 guys who left a mid-major to go to a bigger name school that would allow them to get better players & have a better shot to win the national championship, yet two of them are doing far worse than Shaka/VCU & the other one is a step behind him (not just a second choice, but exiting the Big Dance a round sooner this year).

Also, consider this: all of the schools are recognized as being top programs had to start somewhere & that start was always an amazing coach deciding to dig in & develop the program. When you’re always seen as a stepping stone to the next school, your program will never truly grow. We’ve been lucky to have good coaches get their start with us, but now we’re even luckier to have a great coach committing to us. Since the turn of the millennium, we’ve never had a coach spend more than 4yrs in Richmond but for the first time, it looks like we’ve got someone who wants to bring us to the next level as opposed to springing himself to the next level.

Listen, max, I get it: you’re an ODU fan & need to find a flaw in Shaka, so you try to portray him as being soft or scared of the bigger stage. That’s fine, tell yourself what you need to. But just bear this in mind: Of the team that (for the first time in 8yrs) swept our regular season series, only one of the is graduating & 6 of them will be hear for another 6yrs. We’ve got an even better recruiting class coming in (including the younger brother of our only senior, who is touted to be even better) and from here on out, these are all players who Shaka brought in specifically for Havoc, not Anthony Grant’s players he was able to convert amazingly well. Life is only going to get harder as a Monarch.

O, & if Shaka’s scared because he’s not going to the bigger stage after 3yrs in the CAA, what’s it say about Blaine Taylor being stuck at ODU for ten? Our coach is getting calls from the big schools & choosing to stay with us. Yours is telling people he’s ready to move on but no one’s interested.